avianflu wrote on Aug 12, 2011, 12:53:The whole point of persistent on line is NOT to stop piracy: it is to allow for real-time micro-tranctions in the auction house and blizzard store.

Want that sword of Damocles for $1.50? Click -- it is now yours.

Again, I completely disagree with this. How does this require persistent online? It doesn't in any way, shape or form. There isn't a single argument that can be made that persistent online even helps this. Sorry, but it makes the argument dumb.

However, DRM can require persistent online.

In D2 you had offline single player and b.net multi. Single player was completely disconnected and you could still hack it. It didn't matter back then, because there was no microtransaction auction house. However, with D3 a player hacking their single player to get all the cool stuff they want is potentially a lost microtransaction customer.

Always On DRM is required to ensure players don't mod/hack their single player experience and end up bypassing the need for the online auction house.

It isn't a piracy issue here, they know the game will sell a ton of copies regardless. All Blizzard's moves lately have been towards a more tightly controlled user experience. With the ultimate goal of selling them more things.

Valve is simply asking that both the game and all DLC be available for purchase through steam. That is a reasonable request. No one would have a problem with valve refusing to carry EA games if EA made the DLC only available through Direct2Drive.

Sure, but Valve isn't living up to the other side. If I buy BF:BC2 retail, and try and buy the Vietnam expansion via Steam, I can't use it. If I buy BF:BC2 on Steam, and buy the Vietnam expansion from Direct2Drive, I can't use it. If Steam isn't going to allow you to purchase your DLC from a third party and enable it with your Steam game (or vice versa), why should EA cooperate with them?

If you buy a game from Direct 2 Drive or retail, Valve doesn't see a penny. They would then be providing their services to you for free. That's why you can only register steamworks games on steam if you buy them elsewhere. Valve is already part of that deal. Valve is still a business.

Allowing you to buy games elsewhere and register them on steam just would just let other digital services freeload.

StingingVelvet wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 13:16:No one can really say how many of these "Steam or no sale" people really mean it.

It's true, some of those people will just go through Origin, or another digital distro, or just buy the boxed game. I know I will for BF3. Hardcore gamers will go wherever they need to, to get the game. Casual folks that just see a game get released on Steam and decide to buy it are the people they will lose. 25 million + Steam users isnt something to scoff at.

I imagine quite a few. The only reason I bought BC2 was due to a steam sale. The EA store may put things on sale, but I don't check it regularly. They may not lose out on the initial die hard fans, but I think they will probably lose out on the people who pick it up later when it goes on sale. If they aren't that motivated to buy the game they may buy it on sale, but not go out of their way to sign up for a new service.

When you hit a certain point it is very convenient for all your games to be under one banner.

As for Steam pulling the games, at this point EA knows exactly why Valve pulled Crysis 2. They did the same thing with DA2 because they want to force consumers to make a choice.

Valve is simply asking that both the game and all DLC be available for purchase through steam. That is a reasonable request. No one would have a problem with valve refusing to carry EA games if EA made the DLC only available through Direct2Drive.

The voice acting? There are so many other, massive problems with the game. The fact that they don't address them in the slightest tells me either they are in denial or don't understand how they screwed up. Either way, it indicates we'll probably never see a good game from them again.

This is just what they did with their last game. They make a terrible game, go "hey we have jetpacks, like Tribes" and all the people who keep hearing that Tribes was really good, but never actually played it, run and buy it. 5 minutes later they realize the game is terrible and absolutely nothing like Tribes.

Hi-Rez has problems at a very core level. They have bad developers who don't understand what makes a game good running things. The results are bad games.

Cutter wrote on Jun 29, 2011, 22:24:Just because one game did and it was a fluke success doesn't mean everyone should emulate it.

You realize it's the same guy right?

I'm a big proponent of this style of development. Working at a software developer which employs the agile methodology and ships product nearly ever week, I can't stress enough how important it is to get the customers involved as early as possible.

Plus with games, as long as the core gameplay is fun you have a product. Being an electronic CCG this will probably work well with scrolls.

Cutter wrote on Jun 1, 2011, 14:24:From the get go this was all about trying to squeeze Bethsoft for cash, plain and simple. Everyone including them knew they'd never build the thing or get the financing for it. This is just a case of IP squatting on a technicality. Shame of it is that this has set back any chance for a Fallout world for several years.

At the same time Bethesda didn't want to pay for the rights to an MMO. We all know Fallout is an extremely valuable IP and they passed on the MMO rights because they were being cheap.

captawe wrote on May 27, 2011, 19:08:Umm, Bioware doesn't exist except in name only. EA bought them and control all the shots. Bioware is just a name on a website and a marquee to pimp crappy games from.

Mass Effect 2 was quite good. I think the actual issue here is Bioware spreading itself too thin. You have Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and The Old Republic all in development at once. There is a finite amount of talent at a studio. When I played DA:O it was pretty clear to me that the third and fourth stringers were working on the Dragon Age series.

All their good devs are probably working on other series, leaving Dragon Age to what's left.

Dev wrote on May 26, 2011, 00:40:Maybe use steam next time instead of the *barf* GfWL. It limits you to 1 signin at a time, unlimited installs. It has ability to not unlock the game until a particular release day/time, etc.

While Steam VS GFWL isn't really the issue here, it does amaze me how people support Steam DRM. The biggest issues is that Steam requires periodical sign-ins, even in "offline" mode. Whereas GFWL never requires you to be online, and even allows you to create and play on offline accounts that require no user data or tracking.

Steam's DRM is transparent most of the time and in exchange for tolerating their DRM you get all the steam features, some of which are quite good.

I would agree that most of the reviewers don't get Brink at all. Most reviewers are notoriously bad at reviewing multiplayer and/or competitively oriented games anyway.

They did end up with roughly the rights scores, even if it was for the wrong reasons. The game was released in a horribly buggy state and unfortunately the maps tend to suck. The best of the maps can be described as "playable" and not good. A shooter with bad maps is unfortunately a bad shooter.

I hope they handle it better than DA2 where if you are male every other male suddenly turns gay and if you are female every other female suddenly wants to sleep with you. I think it makes the characters weaker. I like how in ME2, some characters just aren't interested in sex with Shepard.

What drivers are you using Jerykk? I have a single 4870 using the 11.2 drivers and everything is perfectly smooth for me.

I'm using the 11.5a hotfix drivers which were supposedly designed specifically for BRINK. Still runs like ass, though.

When I tried the 11.5a drivers they made the game run worse. A lot of people are reporting better performance without them. Also try turning ambient occlusion off or shadows off. I think it is g_shadows 0.

This most recent patch was a vast improvement for me. It is not perfect, but a huge step in the right direction.

Creston wrote on May 11, 2011, 14:25:This can be summarized as follows:

Game developers on strike because they are being treated exactly the same as they have been treated for the past fifteen years (And never said a fucking peep.)

You'll forgive me for not caring about your plight, Eden Games. You're the idiots that signed the contract that explicitly states "Atari has the right to rape you up the ass / mouth / ear / other convenient hole at its sole discretion."

Don't like your work conditions? Find another job, and this time pay attention to what the contract says before you put your fucking signature on it.

Creston

Get another job somewhere else in the industry that will treat them exactly the same? It is everywhere. If you have talent, you should probably leave the games industry, you could get paid better everywhere else. Yes, they should have been complaining about it 10 or so years ago. However, it is good to see a studio finally trying to stand up for itself.

DangerDog wrote on May 10, 2011, 13:00:It's not a bad game, but nothing epic. I'm not having any technical issues with the game, I applaud Splash Damage for putting a decent UI into the game, and they get a brownie button for letting you disable motion blur from the menu.

ATI cards have a lot of issue with this game right now, so ATI users beware.